“Still working on the application?” Ivan braces himself in my doorway, arms crossed over his chest.
“I’m almost done. I’ve already got the letter written already. I just need to get the video right.”
With the Bandis the newest concept show from the producers ofKnot What You Expected.Five massive names in the music industry will build a band from individual submissions, who will compete for a recording contract. Every submission must be from a single person. No preformed bands or duos will be accepted. Each coach has to choose a vocalist, guitarist, bassist, and drummer. They’re all given a fifth ‘wildcard’ spot to round out the band.
Marlie is a triple threat. She has the voice of an angel, can play guitar, and her theatre background means she can dance, too. They’d be fools not to put her as the lead of a band.
My Alpha crosses the room and leans over my shoulder as I press play again. “It looks like the clips played at the beginning of a true crime special. ‘Susan lit up the room’ type shit. And then we find out her Alpha murdered her.”
I smack him on the chest with the back of my hand. “It does not!”
I did my best to find a mix of clips to make the submission video well-rounded. Ivan rests his ass on my desk as I finish up and attach it to the submission email. Marlie did such a spectacular job writing my application letter forExpected, so I have spent weeks making sure hers is top-notch.
She needs this.
She’s been down lately because she still hasn’t met her pack. She could use the distraction. I hate seeing how she’s losing some of her spark every time she comes back from a social empty-handed.
Ivan peeks over my shoulder at the email. “It looks good, sweetie. They’d be a fool not to accept her. It’s missing one big thing, though.”
I run my eyes over the words again, but I don’t think I left anything out. I’ve talked about her passion, her background, and her skills. I went personal, talking about her teaching career and touching on her relationship with her parents and brothers. I even managed to convince them to give me some childhood videos of Marlie dancing and singing to put in her audition tape.
They’d be fools if they didn’t accept her.
“What am I missing?”
He taps the “cc” line of the email. “You didn’t include Bradley and Bridgette in the email.”
Ivan handsme a glass of wine before throwing himself onto the couch next to me.
“What are we watching tonight?”
I click through the streaming offerings, wrinkling my nose at the options on offer. “Nothing sounds good.”
“Can we watch that campy horror movie?” Grant leans around the kitchen wall with a dish rag in his hands. “Where they’re having a sleepover, and then someone dies, so they start turning on one another?”
“No, we watched that two weeks ago.” Derrick flops onto the floor at my feet. I throw my legs over his shoulders and wiggle my toes. I don’t have to ask, he knows what I want and starts massaging my soles.
Ivan throws out the next suggestion. “What about the one where the NPC of a game is the main character?”
Grant finishes up in the kitchen and squeezes between Ivan and the arm of the couch. “Eh. A stand-up special?”
Derrick makes a dismissive noise. Our tastes in comedy are so different that it’s hard to find one we all like. Whenever we end up watching a special, it’s a given that at least two of us spend most of it with our faces in our phones.
Sometimes, I forget that it was less than three years ago that I learned the truth about Sax. Things just work with the four of us, and sometimes it feels like we’ve been together forever with how in sync we are.
In the aftermath of the show, we all received a lot more attention than we were used to. Grant was able to quit his job as a pharmaceutical sales rep and focus on modeling. He’s done several print campaigns and has even been on a few billboards. He was invited last week to model for a famous underwear line, and I’m going to fly to New York with him for the photoshoot. His social media has blown up, and he’s constantly getting hit up for brand deals.
Ivan got a promotion from a very expensive pencil pusher at a cell phone company to theleadpencil pusher at the same company. That didn’t have anything to do withthe show, but he’s convinced that the only reason they looked at his application for the role was that they recognized his name.
I never cared much about my job as an accountant, so when I was contacted by a charity focused on fundraising for Foresaken Omega Syndrome research and asked to join the organization, I jumped at it. It has been so good for my soul to know that every day I am working toward ensuring that what happened to Calvin never happens again. We have a long way to go, because they still don’t know how to create synthetic pheromones, but it feels like every day we learn something new about the disease.
Derrick was brought on as a partner at a PT Practice, and he’s starting to be a bit pickier about the clients he takes on, so his hours are getting better.
We make sure to spend every Saturday night together as a pack, whether it’s playing board games, watching movies, or going on a date, it doesn’t matter. Unless Grant is traveling for shoots, then it gets shifted a day or two.
“Well, that’s three no’s, you all know what that means.” I exit the service we’re on, switch to one of the other four we have, and pull up the search. “Time for another rewatch ofUnexplainable and Bizarre!”
“Actually, that sounds good. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten in a fight. Let me go get a snack first.” Derrick shoves my feet away and heads to the kitchen. “Anyone need another drink?”
